Stars can only 'ignite' when enough mass accumulates. It would make sense that often there would be chunks of smaller mass just floating around until they scoop up enough matter into their gravity well to start fusion.
It's slow damage, over years of time. In order to afford surgery, and better medications than insurance coverage provides (the Mayo clinic has some interesting fine joint replacement implants), and to relieve the boredom of not working (Playing CounterStrike and Everquest all day would be as bad as programming; except most programming environments allow speech recognition software).
I'm doing the best I can with what I have and the time I have, instead of spending the rest of my life sitting in a trailer watching TV and smoking pot on the government dole, and dying with perfect hands.
My priorities include being a useful person to the rest of the world, not simply doing the best thing for myself.
The fed's arn't paying for my medications; when I was 22, and got my first good paying tech job, I bought medical insurance out of pocket before I knew I was going to develop arthritis. The Medications cost $1500; but that's 90% covered by my non-government insurance. Enough so that I declined Medicare coverage. Getting my own insurance was the smartest thing I ever did, you don't see many 20 somethings do that.
Which was good because the SSA sent my hearing notice to the wrong address, lost my file for 9 months, withheld 10x the proper amount for legal fees, and all in all took 5 years to start paying my benifits (Disability Insurance, i.e. paid for by deducions from MY paycheck, not Welfare) during which time my incurable illness had a new treatment developed, I started taking it, and returned to work. I've paid more in taxes than I've gotten in benifits. Dealing with the SSA is a real nightmare, unfortunetly, most people don't get their own insurance/retirement plans.
I have severe, very severe, as in on federal disability for 5 years, $1500/month medications, arthritis. The fingers of my right hand are turning to the left (Ulnar deviation), and the base joint of my index finger is basically destroyed (subluxation). I developed 'sausage fingers', where the joints swelled so much and so fast I got stretch marks on my fingers. 4 doctors, one of whom was in a wheelchair determined my arthritis bad enough to make me unable to work. Right now with the medications, I'm working, but with the knowledge that I'm slowly destroying my hands.
I looked at some of the previous ergo mice, and they mostly have the flaw mentioned in the article of having to grip the mouse to push it away (up the screen), I have difficulty with doorknobs, bottlecaps, and steering wheels, gripping is a problem. I also used to work in the Microsoft Hardware (mouse/keyboard) group testing device drivers, where I was working at the time I suddenly developed arthritis (genetic cause, not from work), so I do have some knowledge about pointing devices.
This mouse is basically exactly what the physical therapists described as ideal; hand in the hand-shake position, not needing to bend the wrist, with the arm relaxed. and at $80 it's not bad compared to some ergo devices. It's not a 'quack' device, it's designed to help a real, legitimate medical/work issue. If it's lightweight and Optical (I hate mechanical mice so very very much), I'll buy several. Another few years of work would repay the cost a few thousand times over..
In an early morning drug raid on October 2, 1992, 31 officers from five police agencies break down the door to the multimillion dollar home of Donald Scott.
Frightened, Scott's wife screams, "Don't shoot me. Don't kill me." Hearing his wife's screams, Scott emerges from his bedroom holding a handgun, still groggy from a recent cataract operation. When Scott raises the gun in the direction of the police intruders, the raiding officers shoot him dead.
Despite assurances from the L.A. Sheriff's Department that Scott was farming more than 4,000 marijuana plants on his property, thorough search of Scott's property fails to yield any contraband. In fact, Scott's friends would later say he was adamantly opposed to illicit drugs.
Though Scott's grand Malibu ranch is in Ventura County, California, no Ventura police agency was represented among the five police agencies (the L.A. Sheriff's office, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Border Patrol, the National Guard and the National Park Service) that conducted the raid. A blistering subsequent investigation by Ventura County district attorney Michael Bradbury suggests why.
Bradbury found gross misstatements of fact, omissions, and outright falsehoods in the application for a search warrant issued by the L.A. sheriff's department. He found that the department had conducted numerous investigations of the ranch, including flyovers and firsthand visits, which found no evidence of marijuana cultivation. Finally, during a low-level flyover one DEA agent suggested to the sheriff's department that he had spotted some plants beneath tree cover that might be marijuana -- but stipulated that his observation ought not be the basis of a search warrant. On that evidence, the L.A. sheriff's department obtained its warrant.
Bradbury concluded that, confirming Donald Scott's fears, the L.A. sheriff's department conducted its raid for the purpose of seizing Donald Scott's property through drug asset forfeiture laws. Under federal law, the department would have been able divvy up proceeds from the $2.5 million ranch with the four other agencies joining in the investigation. Bradbury found documents in which the investigating agencies had expressed desire for Scott's land on various "wish lists," and one notation in which sheriff's department officials had taken note of the recent sale value of one parcel of Scott's land.
According to an L.A. deputy district attorney at the time, two of the agents conducting the raid posed for a triumphant photograph after Scott was shot and killed.
In January 2000, the L.A. Sheriff's Department settled with Scott's family for $5 million, though the terms of the settlement admitted no wrongdoing. In fact, officers from the department who conducted the raid have insisted from the beginning that both the raid and the shooting of Scott were justified, despite the absence of any illegal substances. L.A. Sheriff's Department Captain Larry Waldie told the Los Angeles Times, "I do not believe it was an illegal raid in any way, shape or form." Five years after the raid, Garry Spencer, the officer who both led the raid and who killed Scott told the same paper, "I don't consider it botched. I wouldn't call it botched because that would say that it was a mistake to have gone there in the first place, and I don't believe that."
Sources:
Michael Fessier, Jr., "Trail's End; Deep in a Wild Canyon West of Malibu, a Controversial Law Brought Together a Zealous Sheriff's Deputy and an Eccentric Recluse. A Few Seconds Later, Donald Scott Was Dead," Los Angeles Times Magazine, August 1, 1993, p. 26.
Michael D. Bradbury, Report on the Death of Donald Scott, Office of the District Attorney, County of Ventura, State of California, March 30, 1993.
"Fair End in Police Abuse Case," Los Angeles Times, editorial, January 13, 2000, p. B9.
Daryl Kelley, "Ventura D.A. Says Fatal Raid Was Unjustified," Los Angeles Times, March 30, 1993, p. A1.
Scott Hadly, "Officer criticized over 1992 raid still wants vindication," Los Angeles Times, December 3, 1997, p. B3.
The best thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from.
Noone is holding a gun to web developers heads demanding W3C compliance. (I hope)
If you want wide accessability, use the simple, well proven stuff (HTML); if you want flashy state-of-the-art stuff (Flash, ActiveX, Java), it's not going to work everywhere.
If your boss wants both, get more money, more staff, or take more time. But explain to the boss that double the developers does not double productivity, and they may be better off chosing between Gizmos and Functionality.
Having two different Legal dictionaries offers less definitions than having both a Legal and a Medical dictionary.
Two bricklayers or two Carpenters may build a house slower than one carpenter and one bricklayer.
And a car wouldn't get very far if all it's wheels spun clockwise.
Back when computers were more specific purpose (This one is for Payroll, this one for Budget, this one for Customer tracking, this one for the actual Job...) linking them together had amazing potential, but now when an entire operation could be run off one machine (Quickbooks, Photoshop, Coreldraw, Web Browser, Fax server were all together one one machine I know of, and all critical for the business) there's not that much data that needs to move over a network to run the business.
Wikipedia, for example, would still be very useful even if it had zero links to external sites, because in itself it encompasses so much. Amazon does not need to offer links to other retailers, because they sell near everything.
Sonic: Methanpheamine overdose Pac Man: Heart attack caused by overeating Bomberman: Joined Al'Queda, bombed while hiding in a cave in afghanistan Kirby: Ruptured a lung attempting to huff from a helium tank Lara Croft: Kidney Failure, breast Implants leaked toxic chemicals Mega Man: Went too close to an MRI machine Cloud Strife: Shot while attacking a policeman after being caught shoplifting hair gel Mario: Died from a turtle shaped bowel obstruction
[It's been a long time since I read the Declaration of Independance...]
We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
[I view this as a prioritized list; Life is greater than Liberty, Liberty is greater that Happiness; that is, everyones Liberty is restricted to protect one Life, and everyones Happiness is restricted to protect one persons Liberty. You have a right to things that bring happiness (Phone, Internet, Car) as long as you don't impinge on the Lives or Liberty of others. (Phone harrasment, Cracking, Drunk Driving) But basically, you do have the right to try an be happy.]
That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
[If the governement is making everyone unhappy and unsafe, that is cause enough to throw it out and start again]
Prudence indeed, will dictate, that Governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security.
[Wow, very insightful, the comment: "Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves..." No one thing is enough to change the system yet, but if you add up all the smaller things... Unfortunetly, I really don't know of a better system that would actually work.]
I believe they were needed to implement POSIX, which if I recall correctly was the standard published by the U.S. Federal Government to define the mininum capabilities required for operating systems.
I knew my roommate was into the furry scene (modified stuffed animals, lavicious fox desktop background, funcon attendance, furrymuck player...), but when I altavista'd (pre-google) our shared phone number, I found his personal ad on a diaper fetish site...
There are some things you just don't want to know about the guy you share a kitchen with.
Well, the plus side of that is that you CAN recompile your apps.
Anyway, I recall back in '94 AOL would have stopped working with Windows 95, so MS changed some memory allocation code pretty much just for them, their competitors.
(I heard that AOL's software was taking a 32 bit Handle (sort of an index to a table of pointers), and only used the lower 16 bits of it: which was all Windows 3.1 really used, with it 65,536 object limit.
People often think of MS being anti-competitive when they win, but forget things like Bob, Actimates, NetBEUI, PhotoDraw...
Slashdot Mirror
I recall a story of someone who determined a co-workers password by listening to the timing of her keypresses.
"mickeymouse" m i c k e y mou s e
Get a dog, then accuse the neighbor of animal cruelty.
PETA may throw red paint on them.
Stars can only 'ignite' when enough mass accumulates. It would make sense that often there would be chunks of smaller mass just floating around until they scoop up enough matter into their gravity well to start fusion.
like the famous:
if (X && Y && Z && userid = 0){};
Isn't this basically Silly Putty?
If you roll it into a ball, it will bounce off of hard surfaces; but gentle pressure will deform it like peanut butter...
Perhaps it will be used by secret agents to copy documents without a camera by pressing against it...
GM makes crappy cars, the one I got recently smashed into a tree, and I only had 2 drinks!
It's slow damage, over years of time. In order to afford surgery, and better medications than insurance coverage provides (the Mayo clinic has some interesting fine joint replacement implants), and to relieve the boredom of not working (Playing CounterStrike and Everquest all day would be as bad as programming; except most programming environments allow speech recognition software).
I'm doing the best I can with what I have and the time I have, instead of spending the rest of my life sitting in a trailer watching TV and smoking pot on the government dole, and dying with perfect hands.
My priorities include being a useful person to the rest of the world, not simply doing the best thing for myself.
The fed's arn't paying for my medications; when I was 22, and got my first good paying tech job, I bought medical insurance out of pocket before I knew I was going to develop arthritis. The Medications cost $1500; but that's 90% covered by my non-government insurance. Enough so that I declined Medicare coverage. Getting my own insurance was the smartest thing I ever did, you don't see many 20 somethings do that.
Which was good because the SSA sent my hearing notice to the wrong address, lost my file for 9 months, withheld 10x the proper amount for legal fees, and all in all took 5 years to start paying my benifits (Disability Insurance, i.e. paid for by deducions from MY paycheck, not Welfare) during which time my incurable illness had a new treatment developed, I started taking it, and returned to work. I've paid more in taxes than I've gotten in benifits. Dealing with the SSA is a real nightmare, unfortunetly, most people don't get their own insurance/retirement plans.
I have severe, very severe, as in on federal disability for 5 years, $1500/month medications, arthritis. The fingers of my right hand are turning to the left (Ulnar deviation), and the base joint of my index finger is basically destroyed (subluxation). I developed 'sausage fingers', where the joints swelled so much and so fast I got stretch marks on my fingers. 4 doctors, one of whom was in a wheelchair determined my arthritis bad enough to make me unable to work. Right now with the medications, I'm working, but with the knowledge that I'm slowly destroying my hands.
I looked at some of the previous ergo mice, and they mostly have the flaw mentioned in the article of having to grip the mouse to push it away (up the screen), I have difficulty with doorknobs, bottlecaps, and steering wheels, gripping is a problem. I also used to work in the Microsoft Hardware (mouse/keyboard) group testing device drivers, where I was working at the time I suddenly developed arthritis (genetic cause, not from work), so I do have some knowledge about pointing devices.
This mouse is basically exactly what the physical therapists described as ideal; hand in the hand-shake position, not needing to bend the wrist, with the arm relaxed. and at $80 it's not bad compared to some ergo devices. It's not a 'quack' device, it's designed to help a real, legitimate medical/work issue. If it's lightweight and Optical (I hate mechanical mice so very very much), I'll buy several. Another few years of work would repay the cost a few thousand times over..
Or, if they argue that the three worked together, they can all get the death penalty (Muder + Conspiracy to Commit Murder)
Decongestant, batteries, automotive fluids... all purchase records electronically stored.
cause enough to seize your home.
An example of abused drug laws?
http://www.cato.org/raidmap/
In an early morning drug raid on October 2, 1992, 31 officers from five police agencies break down the door to the multimillion dollar home of Donald Scott.
Frightened, Scott's wife screams, "Don't shoot me. Don't kill me." Hearing his wife's screams, Scott emerges from his bedroom holding a handgun, still groggy from a recent cataract operation. When Scott raises the gun in the direction of the police intruders, the raiding officers shoot him dead.
Despite assurances from the L.A. Sheriff's Department that Scott was farming more than 4,000 marijuana plants on his property, thorough search of Scott's property fails to yield any contraband. In fact, Scott's friends would later say he was adamantly opposed to illicit drugs.
Though Scott's grand Malibu ranch is in Ventura County, California, no Ventura police agency was represented among the five police agencies (the L.A. Sheriff's office, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Border Patrol, the National Guard and the National Park Service) that conducted the raid. A blistering subsequent investigation by Ventura County district attorney Michael Bradbury suggests why.
Bradbury found gross misstatements of fact, omissions, and outright falsehoods in the application for a search warrant issued by the L.A. sheriff's department. He found that the department had conducted numerous investigations of the ranch, including flyovers and firsthand visits, which found no evidence of marijuana cultivation. Finally, during a low-level flyover one DEA agent suggested to the sheriff's department that he had spotted some plants beneath tree cover that might be marijuana -- but stipulated that his observation ought not be the basis of a search warrant. On that evidence, the L.A. sheriff's department obtained its warrant.
Bradbury concluded that, confirming Donald Scott's fears, the L.A. sheriff's department conducted its raid for the purpose of seizing Donald Scott's property through drug asset forfeiture laws. Under federal law, the department would have been able divvy up proceeds from the $2.5 million ranch with the four other agencies joining in the investigation. Bradbury found documents in which the investigating agencies had expressed desire for Scott's land on various "wish lists," and one notation in which sheriff's department officials had taken note of the recent sale value of one parcel of Scott's land.
According to an L.A. deputy district attorney at the time, two of the agents conducting the raid posed for a triumphant photograph after Scott was shot and killed.
In January 2000, the L.A. Sheriff's Department settled with Scott's family for $5 million, though the terms of the settlement admitted no wrongdoing. In fact, officers from the department who conducted the raid have insisted from the beginning that both the raid and the shooting of Scott were justified, despite the absence of any illegal substances. L.A. Sheriff's Department Captain Larry Waldie told the Los Angeles Times, "I do not believe it was an illegal raid in any way, shape or form." Five years after the raid, Garry Spencer, the officer who both led the raid and who killed Scott told the same paper, "I don't consider it botched. I wouldn't call it botched because that would say that it was a mistake to have gone there in the first place, and I don't believe that."
Sources:
Michael Fessier, Jr., "Trail's End; Deep in a Wild Canyon West of Malibu, a Controversial Law Brought Together a Zealous Sheriff's Deputy and an Eccentric Recluse. A Few Seconds Later, Donald Scott Was Dead," Los Angeles Times Magazine, August 1, 1993, p. 26.
Michael D. Bradbury, Report on the Death of Donald Scott, Office of the District Attorney, County of Ventura, State of California, March 30, 1993.
"Fair End in Police Abuse Case," Los Angeles Times, editorial, January 13, 2000, p. B9.
Daryl Kelley, "Ventura D.A. Says Fatal Raid Was Unjustified," Los Angeles Times, March 30, 1993, p. A1.
Scott Hadly, "Officer criticized over 1992 raid still wants vindication," Los Angeles Times, December 3, 1997, p. B3.
Or, in the case of computer science, 3 dupe posts on Slashdot...
Many cities require property owners to clean/paint over any graffitti; uncontrolled internet access could be used to deface sites.
You can't display a corpse, or a facsimile of a corpse in public in most US counties; uncontrolled internet access could be used to spam goatse.
It's also often illegal to leave your car keys in view in/around your car unattended; You have the responsablity to control your tools.
You can't wear a ski mask into a bank, no matter how cold it is; anonymous internet access could be used to commit a crime.
As a 'public nuisance' the nuisance would have to be weighed aganist the benifit, dairy farms stink, but I do like to eat cheese.
I wonder how many portals the source engine can handle, each portal is a new point of view to render from.
If there was multiplayer, imagine a wall with 16 portals on it, the other side overlooking the 16 portals again... from 16 different angles...
The best thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from.
Noone is holding a gun to web developers heads demanding W3C compliance. (I hope)
If you want wide accessability, use the simple, well proven stuff (HTML); if you want flashy state-of-the-art stuff (Flash, ActiveX, Java), it's not going to work everywhere.
If your boss wants both, get more money, more staff, or take more time. But explain to the boss that double the developers does not double productivity, and they may be better off chosing between Gizmos and Functionality.
Or using flares to warn people there is a fire in the theatre
Depending upon the uniqueness of each node.
Having two different Legal dictionaries offers less definitions than having both a Legal and a Medical dictionary.
Two bricklayers or two Carpenters may build a house slower than one carpenter and one bricklayer.
And a car wouldn't get very far if all it's wheels spun clockwise.
Back when computers were more specific purpose (This one is for Payroll, this one for Budget, this one for Customer tracking, this one for the actual Job...) linking them together had amazing potential, but now when an entire operation could be run off one machine (Quickbooks, Photoshop, Coreldraw, Web Browser, Fax server were all together one one machine I know of, and all critical for the business) there's not that much data that needs to move over a network to run the business.
Wikipedia, for example, would still be very useful even if it had zero links to external sites, because in itself it encompasses so much. Amazon does not need to offer links to other retailers, because they sell near everything.
And you really don't want to look in all the boxes; you just might get your face melted.
Sonic: Methanpheamine overdose
Pac Man: Heart attack caused by overeating
Bomberman: Joined Al'Queda, bombed while hiding in a cave in afghanistan
Kirby: Ruptured a lung attempting to huff from a helium tank
Lara Croft: Kidney Failure, breast Implants leaked toxic chemicals
Mega Man: Went too close to an MRI machine
Cloud Strife: Shot while attacking a policeman after being caught shoplifting hair gel
Mario: Died from a turtle shaped bowel obstruction
You do have a right to seek happiness though...
[It's been a long time since I read the Declaration of Independance...]
We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
[I view this as a prioritized list; Life is greater than Liberty, Liberty is greater that Happiness; that is, everyones Liberty is restricted to protect one Life, and everyones Happiness is restricted to protect one persons Liberty. You have a right to things that bring happiness (Phone, Internet, Car) as long as you don't impinge on the Lives or Liberty of others. (Phone harrasment, Cracking, Drunk Driving) But basically, you do have the right to try an be happy.]
That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
[If the governement is making everyone unhappy and unsafe, that is cause enough to throw it out and start again]
Prudence indeed, will dictate, that Governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security.
[Wow, very insightful, the comment: "Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves..." No one thing is enough to change the system yet, but if you add up all the smaller things... Unfortunetly, I really don't know of a better system that would actually work.]
Microsoft's Messengers have been using SSL or greater level of encryption from since the very first build. (it also used to be 100kb.)
I believe they were needed to implement POSIX, which if I recall correctly was the standard published by the U.S. Federal Government to define the mininum capabilities required for operating systems.
Except the furry diaper porn.
I knew my roommate was into the furry scene (modified stuffed animals, lavicious fox desktop background, funcon attendance, furrymuck player...), but when I altavista'd (pre-google) our shared phone number, I found his personal ad on a diaper fetish site...
There are some things you just don't want to know about the guy you share a kitchen with.
Well, the plus side of that is that you CAN recompile your apps.
Anyway, I recall back in '94 AOL would have stopped working with Windows 95, so MS changed some memory allocation code pretty much just for them, their competitors.
(I heard that AOL's software was taking a 32 bit Handle (sort of an index to a table of pointers), and only used the lower 16 bits of it: which was all Windows 3.1 really used, with it 65,536 object limit.
People often think of MS being anti-competitive when they win, but forget things like Bob, Actimates, NetBEUI, PhotoDraw...